The sword in the sea: How one lucky graduate student found his second Crusader sword while taking a swim off Israel's coast

A sword dating to the Crusades spent centuries entombed in sand and barnacles off the Mediterranean coast of Israel, until a university student spotted its hilt jutting from the seabed.

Shlomi Katzin, a graduate student in the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, saw a group of divers with metal detectors while swimming and worried that they could be antiquity thieves, according to a translated statement from the university. After driving the group away, Katzin noticed the sword's hilt in the sand.

Given that he had discovered a similar sword in 2021, Katzin quickly recognized the object and relayed his finding to Deborah Cvikel, a nautical archaeologist at the University of Haifa. Cvikel in turn alerted the Israel Antiquities Authority, which gave special permission for the 3-foot-long (1 meter) sword to be excavated for further study.

"This is an extremely rare find that sheds light on the Crusader presence on the coasts of the country," Cvikel said in the statement. She noted that "only a handful of similar swords from the Crusader period" (A.D. 1095 to 1291) are known in the country, and that this "discovery contributes greatly to our understanding of the use of maritime anchorages and the lives of warriors during this period."

During the Crusades, Christians from Western Europe led a series of religious wars against Muslims, in large part to take control of the Holy Land. These religious wars were led by European knights sanctioned by the Catholic Pope. Artifacts like swords and shields reveal just how grisly the fighting was during this time.

The newfound 12th-century weapon is now giving archaeologists a rare look at the movements of medieval warriors along the Mediterranean coast. Researchers used a hospital CT scan to noninvasively see inside the sword without having to scrape away any of the marine buildup that had encrusted on its iron core.

The scan revealed how hard the sea can be on ancient artifacts, as the blade appeared to be fractured and only a small portion of the original iron core remained. However, it did show that the sword was designed for one-handed combat and its build indicated that it likely belonged to a Crusader, possibly one who was Frankish.

"In the Middle Ages, the sword became a symbol of The knights and knighthoods, as well as a symbol of the Christian faith," Sára Lantos, a researcher in the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the School of Archaeology and Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, said in the statement. "The discovery and study of such a symbolic and personal object are rare, and enrich our knowledge of the material culture of the Crusader period. In addition, they give us a unique opportunity to learn about the lives of the Frankish knights in the Holy Land."

Research into the sword is ongoing. The previous sword unearthed by Katzin in 2021 also dated to the Crusades. Typically, swords were not discarded during that period because their metal was valuable and could be recycled. So it's likely that these swords' owners lost them at sea, which would have likely been a hardship or even fatal.